South American presidents thwarted Bolsonaro’s attempt to “invade” an official photo with the new president of Argentina

The presidents of South America prevented this Sunday an attempt by former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to “invade” the official photograph of the new Argentine President Javier Miley, who had just taken office, along with other heads of state of the region. At least four of these heads of state refused to be photographed, while Bolsonaro (who took advantage of Lula da Silva’s absence to travel to Argentina with a delegation of dozens as if he were still in power) was among them, making threats don’t even do it unless it’s been removed.

The former Brazilian ruler’s embarrassment occurred at the Argentine Congress in Buenos Aires, shortly after Javier Miley was sworn in as the country’s new president, when he met with other South American leaders for an official photo. Bolsonaro, in his secretive manner, gradually moved closer, smiling and waving to the audience like a pop star, and suddenly found himself among the heads of state to appear in a photograph.

Miley, who invited Bolsonaro hours after his election to attend his inauguration and irritated Lula, whom he called a “communist” and a “thief” on the campaign trail, did not object, but Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Paul of Paraguay Santiago Peña of Chile, Gabriel Borich and Daniel Noboa from Ecuador were outraged. First, they themselves tried to remove Bolsonaro, who, in addition to no longer being the president of Brazil, is the main opponent of the current head of state, but the former president pretended not to know and continued to smile and wave his hands, as if the applause and cries of support were addressed to him, and not to the country’s new president, with whom he shares most of his ultra-radical flags.

Unable to convince the Brazilian, the heads of state called in the ceremonial team leading the inauguration of Javier Miley and made it clear that they would not participate in the official photograph if Bolsonaro was in it. Only then did Miley’s team decide to act and removed Jair Bolsonaro, who reluctantly left and at that moment, aware of his shame, no longer smiled or waved to the crowd.